We Need a Mobile Strategy – Ya Think?

I’m still blown away by the number of nonprofits who think they don’t have to worry about how their websites and email look on mobile devices. Or conference organizers who don’t think they need a hashtag. “But our people really don’t do mobile,” they say, completely in denial. Look around.

According to recent data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 61% of American cell phone owners have smartphones. Because 91% of the adult population now owns some kind of cell phone, that means that 56% of all American adults are now smartphone adopters. One third (35%) have some other kind of cell phone that is not a smartphone, and the remaining 9% of Americans do not own a cell phone at all.

I know it’s another thing to think about, to learn, to deal with, and to budget for. We are still sorting it out ourselves at Nonprofit Marketing Guide. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore it.

Tomorrow, we’ll share a guest post by Julia Reich from Stone Soup Creative on responsive design for your website. On Wednesday, you’ll hear from JoAnn Manke from WithinReach on the mobile site they built for teens.

Totally agree. Mobile is a big deal here in the UK. Charities are finding that the frictionless nature of making a text donation is driving response at volume from channels that for years have been in decline or not used outside of emergency situations. As well as making places we didn’t think could be responsive, deliver new donors – trains? toilet doors!? Fiona wrote this great summary of UK mobile giving on SOFII. http://www.sofii.org/node/1271 And here is an example of the type of thing that is working here in the UK. http://openfundraising.com/2013/06/04/sometimes-things-are-just-meant-to-bee/

Catherine Odson

Last spring I attended an educational technology conference without a hashtag. They hadn’t even considered it. People were shocked I wanted to tweet. It made me think twice about the conference’s credibility.